This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/818,262, filed on Mar. 26, 20001 now abandoned and entitled, “Apparatus and Method for Communicating over a Distributed System of Computers”.
This invention relates generally to apparatus used to communicate and more particularly to communication through a network of computers.
The present discussion is in relationship to the Internet or the World Wide Web. This is done for simplicity of description and not to limit the scope of the invention. The invention is intended to cover any distributed network of computers as those of ordinary skill in the art readily appreciate.
With the introduction and subsequent wide spread acceptance and use of the Internet, a medium for communication now exists in which millions of users have instant access to a wide range of information. While some of this information is static (i.e. news articles and product explanations), there are also a level of information that falls into the “motion” category (i.e. movies and live-cams).
The motion category of information is usually communicated for its entertainment, as opposed to educational, purpose; but even this distinction is blurred by the broadcaster's ingenious use of the medium.
To assist in communicating this content, a variety of patents have been developed to create a moving picture communicated through the Internet (sometimes referred to as “streaming video”). These include: U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,200, entitled “Automatic Protocol Rollover in Streaming MultiMedia Data Delivery System” issued to Beckerman et al. on Feb. 22, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,005, entitled “Multicasting Method and Apparatus” issued to Monteiro et al. on Nov. 9, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,187, entitled “Multicasting Method and Apparatus” issued to Monteriro et al. on Jul. 7, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,737, entitled “Information Processing System and Control Method Thereof” issued to Yano et al. on Jul. 11, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,566, entitled “System and Method for Processing Object-Based Audiovisual Information” issued to Eleftheriadis et al. on Jun. 27, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,483, entitled “Active Frame Scroll Interface” issued to Rosin et al. on Jun. 6, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,397, entitled “System and Method for Generation and Interfacing of Bitstreams Representing MPEG-Coded Audiovisual Objects” issued to Eleftheriadis et al. on Mar. 28, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,410, entitled “Method and System for Presenting Customized Advertising to a User on the World Wide Web” issued to LeMole et al. on Dec. 28, 1999; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,241, entitled “Production of a Video Stream with Synchronized Annotations over a Computer Network” issued to Purnaveja et al. on Dec. 21, 1999; all of which are incorporated hereinto by reference.
It is clear from the foregoing that there is a significant need for video distribution over the Internet and other distributed networks of computers.